ON YOUR BALLOT: Where do Clinton and Trump actually stand on the issues?

Photos by Gage Skidmore and Max Goldberg | Creative Commons Traditionally left-leaning Lorain County will help decide which direction key battleground state Ohio goes in the U.S. presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

He called her a “nasty woman.” She told him to delete his Twitter account.

She called his supporters “deplorables.” He’s thrived on rally crowds chanting, “Lock her up!”

Gone are the days when policy — not the cult of personality — decided who would be president. With all the dramatic finger-pointing and name-calling on the national stage this year, it seems the issues have been secondary in the battle between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

To remind voters what’s at stake, we scoured presidential debate transcripts, compared the candidates’ statements via www.ontheissues.org, and looked at League of Women Voters profiles to see where Clinton and Trump stand. Whenever possible, we paraphrased the candidates’ platforms directly from their campaign sites (www.hillaryclinton.com, www.donaldtrump.com).

Highlighted are their policy stances on 10 issues each.

Note that the candidates don’t give the same weight to all of the issues, so we gave space to Clinton on criminal justice reform and Trump on national security. In all cases, we took care to strip the planks of spin, campaign rhetoric, inaccurate or misleading claims, and mudslinging from both sides of the aisle — leaving you with just the positions.

HILLARY CLINTON

DONALD TRUMP

ON TAXES

Clinton wants to increase taxes for the wealthiest Americans and close corporate and Wall Street tax loopholes, such as those rewarding companies for shifting profits and jobs overseas. She proposes an “exit tax” for companies leaving the U.S. to settle up on their untaxed foreign earnings.

ON TAXES

Trump wants to reduce taxes, collapse seven tax brackets to three, eliminate special interest loopholes, make business taxes more competitive to retain domestic jobs, repeal the death tax, and allow Americans to deduct the average cost of childcare from their taxes.

Trump proposes withdrawal from the as-yet-unratified Trans-Pacific Partnership, renogiation of North American Free Trade Agreement terms, designating China a “currency manipulator,” and prosecute China for theft of American trade secrets.

ON HEALTH CARE

Clinton wants to expand the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) while letting people ages 55 and up buy into Medicare. She proposes curbing rising prescription drug costs and protecting access to reproductive health care, as well as guaranteeing 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.

ON HEALTH CARE

Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as Obamacare) and replace it with Health Savings Accounts, and work with states to establish high-risk insurance pools. He proposes using block grants to make local Medicare programs more flexible and allowing people to buy coverage across state lines.

ON FOREIGN POLICY

Clinton wants to strengthen NATO and other ally relationships, use diplomacy to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, check Russian agression in eastern Europe, target ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, and to counter terrorists by “hardening our defenses at home.”

ON FOREIGN POLICY

Trump proposes “peace through strength,” ending the U.S. policy of regime-change and nation-building, increasing military capabilities, tightening the country’s policy on assisting refugees, and using coalition operations to “crush and destroy” ISIS.

ON EDUCATION

Clinton proposes making college debt-free to all Americans, modernizing the teaching profession, providing computer science education to all students, investing in updated school facilities, and providing $2 billion to reform overly punitive disciplinary policies that create a “school-to-prison pipeline.”

ON EDUCATION

Trump wants to invest $20 billion in school choice by reappropriating public school dollars; convince states to give another $110 billion toward charter, private, and magnet school vouchers; and lower costs for post-secondary education.

ON GUN CONTROL

Clinton supports expanding background checks for gun sales and closing gun show and Internet sales loopholes. She also supports laws that stop domestic abusers, other violent criminals, and the severely mentally ill from gaining access to firearms.

Clinton pledges to help cut energy waste nationwide by a third, paving the way for 500 million solar panels to be installed, and reducing U.S. oil consumption by a third through cleaner fuels and more efficient cars, boilers, ships, and trucks (all with a decade).

ON ENERGY

Trump wants to make America energy-independent, which includes ending reliance on OPEC and pushing the use of natural gas. He supports onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands for coal, oil, and shale operations.

ON IMMIGRATION

Clinton calls for immigration reform with a “pathway to full and equal citizenship,” an end to three- and 10-year bars for families with different citizenship statuses, closing private immigration detention centers, and expanding affordable health care to families regardless of immigration status.

ON IMMIGRATION

Trump calls for a wall stretching across the U.S.-Mexico border, controls that offer jobs to American workers first, screen immigration applicants based on likelihood of success in the U.S., “extreme vetting” of applicants based on their ideology, and ending immigration from regions that “export terrorism.”

ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

Clinton wants to reform veterans’ health care and prevent privitization of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She calls for improved VA care for women, steps to end the veteran suicide epidemic, expansion of tax credits for veterans’ employment, and help for homeless vets.

ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

Trump wants to massively overhaul the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, appointing a VA secretary to oversee services. He proposes a commission to investigate alleged fraud, cover-ups, and wrongdoing at the VA; as well as prosecution of “corrupt or incompetent VA executives.” He also promotes optional private care for veterans.

ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Clinton wants to make body cameras available to all police departments, reform mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders, and develop national guidelines for how police officers use deadly force. She proposes $1 billion in her first budget to fund police training with an emphasis on reducing biases as well as legislation to end racial profiling.

ON NATIONAL DEFENSE

Trump proposes increasing the size of the Army to 540,000 active duty soldiers, rebuild the Navy to 350 ships, provide the Air Force with 1,200 fighter craft, and grow the Marine Corps to 36 battalions. He also calls for cyber-warfare defense measures to protect American infrastructure as beefing up intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Jason Hawk can be reached at 440-988-2801 or @EditorHawk on Twitter.

Photos by Gage Skidmore and Max Goldberg | Creative Commons Traditionally left-leaning Lorain County will help decide which direction key battleground state Ohio goes in the U.S. presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Photos by Gage Skidmore and Max Goldberg | Creative Commons Traditionally left-leaning Lorain County will help decide which direction key battleground state Ohio goes in the U.S. presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.